Tragically Beautiful
by Ninmesarra
Summary: When a tragedy strikes, it effects not only the people involved, but everyone close to them. Live's change forever. Can true love survive the disaster? A Tattward and Inkella story of friendship, love, and devastation.
1. Chapter 1

Speak to me,

so I can understand your tongue,

You seem so fragile

It's been said

It' cold beyond the sun,

Have you ever been there?

Communicating thoughts of ways

to never have to speak again

Let me be the fire in your head

Bring what's yours, I'll take what's mine

And meet you on the other side

We'll leave a sign so anyone can find us

A better place, A sweeter time

We won't need any wings to fly

A place beyond the sun

It had been the best few months of their lives. Every day they grew closer and closer, every day they grew more and more in love. They were heading to his house, after a night of laughing, singing and dancing with their friends at the concert they had been waiting months to see. They stumbled to his front door, laughing, kissing and touching each other. They were so caught up in the feeling of one another that they didn't notice his front door was not locked. They didn't notice that his beautiful dog was not waiting just inside the door eagerly to greet them.

He quickly shut the door, pressing her against it. Her hands were in his hair demanding that he not stop kissing her. He has one hand pressed against the door near her head and the other is on her hip pulling her as close as possible. She flicked her tongue along his lips, relishing the feeling of the cool steel rings he had. He slides his hand from the door across her shoulder and down her arm until he reaches her other hip. He pulls her even closer and wraps both arms around her waist and lifts her off the ground. She moans at the close contact and immediately wraps her legs around his waist, grinding against him. She slowly leans back to put a little space between them, but grabs the hem of his shirt and quickly pulls it up and over his broad shoulders. He moves a hand off of her ass and places it on her back and pulls her in closer. His mouth is now kissing and licking her collarbone, making its way up her neck. He stops only to place a small kiss at the star behind her ear. He makes his way back to her lips, attacking her mouth with urgency. He moves his from her back, across her shoulder and down to her breast. She leans closer to him, loving this feeling of his hands on her. He gently massages her breast while running his thumb over her already hardened nipple. He gives the barbell, that he placed there, a little tug and is rewarded with a loud moan for her has she thrusts her hips harder into his. He grabs her thighs and starts to untangle them from his hips.

"Come on baby, lets finish this upstairs." She slowly brings her feet back to the ground when she kisses him one more time and smacks his ass. "Let's go then." She jumps on his back so he can piggyback her on the way to his room. She nibbles on his ear and neck and finally runs her tongue over the delicate lines of the tattoo that comes up the side of his neck. He has to stop half way up the stairs to readjust himself. The things she is doing to him are making him harder and the strain on his jeans is making it difficult to climb up the stairs. "Do you see what you are doing to me? Can you feel it?" he asks her. She slowly moves her hand from over his shoulder and snakes it underneath his arm that is currently supporting her leg around his waist. She very gently runs her finger across his torso to the waistband of his boxers that are peaking out the top of his jeans. Her fingers walk down to the buckle of his belt at a painfully slow speed. "Don't worry baby, we'll get you out of these jeans very soon," she whispers to him and nips at his ear again. He swears under his breath and quickens his pace. After what feels like an eternity, with the air thick with sexual tension he finally reaches the bedroom door. She hops off of his back, her hand still on his belt buckle; she steps in front of him and smiles a wicked smile at him. "Ready?" she asks. "Are you even serious right now? I have never been more ready to be inside you then I am right now." He kissed her again and she opened his bedroom door and led him in by his belt. They do not bother turning on the light, or even closing the door. The only thing they are thinking about is each other and getting to bed. He grabs the hem of her shirt and pulls it over her head he stops for a moment to to lightly run a finger over the cherry blossom tree that runs down her side. He reaches up her back on unclasps her bra, as she unbuckles his belt and unbuttons his pants. She looks up into his bright green eyes and and whispers, "I love you so much, baby." He bends his head down and kisses her passionately. Their kiss slows down and he whispers back, "I love you, too," against her lips. She runs her tongue across his bottom lip stopping to wrap her lips and lightly pull on the rings that are off to the side. She things she hears a soft gasp but cannot be sure. She wraps her arms around his neck places kisses all along his chest, anywhere and everywhere she can reach without leaving his arms. He reaches up behind his neck and grabs her hands bringing them down and in between their naked torsos. He gently removes her bra and tosses it to the floor. He bends down and takes her nipple into his mouth; he gently sucks and uses his tongue to move the barbell back and forth eliciting a moan from her. "You are so beautiful," he tells her as he lowers himself on to his knees. He peppers her body with soft kisses and gentle nibs at her skin while undoing the button on her pants and slowly lowering the zipper. He runs his tongue across the small amount of lace that has now been exposed. "That feels so good," she tells him as her hands make their way into his hair. She has been ready for him all night and now they were finally alone and she couldn't wait to have him inside of her. As these thoughts were running through her head and similar ones going through his, they were oblivious to the still unseen person sulking in the shadows who had very different thoughts running through their head.

This person was not happy for this seemingly loving young couple. The person in the shadows was breaking on the inside by the show they were witnessing, wanting nothing more than to turn their head and look away but completely unable to remove their eyes from watching the intimate touches and kisses, caresses and licks. They could not as they looked at the muscles on his back ripple every time he moved his head or his hands. They could not look away from the flashes of ink and steel. This spell that was placed on this person was suddenly broken and they slinked back into the shadows as music started blaring out of nowhere.

"Dancing through life, mindless and careless." "Are you kidding me?" he asked her. "What? It's your sister's ringtone, I just sent her to voice mail. Now get back to what you were doing," she said and winked at him. He rose off of the ground and roughly grabbed the back of her head, bringing it forward to kiss her again. He ran his tongue in between her lips which she promptly opened for him. "Dancing through life, mindless and careless, make sure you're," "I need to answer this time just to tell her to go away, she knows not to call like this, especially tonight," she explains to him. "Someone better be in the hospital for this interruption or I am very likely to send you there," she answered giggling. He started to chuckle as he placed kisses on her shoulder and bit her lightly. "Listen is everything ok? I have been having the worst feeling ever since we dropped you guys off. I can't shake the feeling of doom. I was hoping it would pass, but it hasn't yet and I need to know that you guys are alright." Even after all these years she is still in awe of how much her friend can say without even stopping to take a breath. "Yeah Hun, we are fine." "We'd be even better and naked if you would stop calling, short stuff. Aren't we going to be seeing you in a few hours anyway?" he chuckled as he called into the phone. They all started laughing. "Yeah yeah ok. I just can't shake this feeling and wanted to make sure two of my favorite people were ok." "We're good I promise, now I'm not trying to be rude but I can gonna hang up now so that you don't hear the very naughty things that are about to happen here." "Oh ew! What is wrong with you? Don't tell me that, that's my big brother you are talking about. Yeah hanging up now that you traumatized me. See you in a few hours babe," she heard her friend say and heard a kiss blown through it as she clicked the red end button. "Where were we, love?" he asks her in a husky voice. "Hmm I think that you need to refresh my memory, I am not quite sure," she replied teasing him. He ran his hands down her body pausing only to lightly grab her breasts and twist her barbells. She quietly moaned his name and attacked his mouth with hers. His hand lightly traced a pattern going down her stomach, which in other circumstances would have tickled her, but at this moment she was too turned on, his hands on her and his mouth on hers, she was already so close and he hadn't even touched the place she wanted him to the most. She was so hot and wet for him that it was borderline uncomfortable. His hand finally reached the waistband of her jeans. He slid his hand underneath her jeans and panties. He was going painstakingly slow. His fingers finally came in contact with her swollen clit, rubbing small circles before sliding his fingers down further to meet her core. His finally slid them inside of her, curling his fingers slightly to hit the spot he knew would make her moan. She threw her head back. Her breathing getting more and more and labored as he thrust his fingers in and out. He started kissing and sucking his way down her neck.

The person lurking in the darkness could not even complete an accurate thought with what was going on just a mere few feet away. 'It should be me about to be laying down on the bed,' they silently thought. They were frozen watching the intimate way these two people were touching each other. They watched as the girl put her hand into his pants, heard his breath hitch, heard the load moan that escaped his lips and she smiled at him and began what appeared to be moving her hand up and down. This mystery person could not handle it anymore. This needed to stop. And they were just the person to make that happen.

There was a dull thud that sounded from across the room. They looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces. "Did you hear that?" she asked him while looking through out the room. "Yeah I did, maybe it was just Guinness. Damn dog." He was leaning in about to kiss her when there was an unmistakable clicking sound. She was getting frightened. She needed to be scared, she needed to be frightened, she needed to have a 'get right with God moment' because she was getting awfully close to meeting her maker. Suddenly the room was flooded with light. "What the fu..." the rest of his question lingered in the air, unspoken. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?" the questions fell on deaf ears, for this lurker was not going to answer. They raised their hand slowly, until it was directly in front of them, parallel to the floor. It wasn't until that moment that they realized the hand was not empty. There was a gun pointed directly at them. What happened next is indescribable. Time seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time for all persons involved. "It should've been me," was what the intruder whispered as they turned the gun that occupied their hand slightly so it was aimed at the girl. There was a loud POP sound followed by a whimper sound and a thud much louder than the one heard earlier. His grasp on her slipped as his mind tried to catch up and process what in the hell just happened. He looked at her as she lay on the ground, bleeding trying to talk. It was impossible to hear what she was saying; it wasn't even qualified to be considered a whisper. "Why? How could you do this? Why would you do this?" he asked grabbing her shirt to put pressure on bleeding gunshot wound the love of his life was now suffering from at the hands of this psycho. "I love you baby. I love you so damn much. I'm going to get some help. I need to call 9-1-1." He grasped her hand with one of his and moved their joined hands back to the pressure. That is the only thing that might be able to slow down the bleeding. He kissed the top of her head and took notice of just how pale she was looking right now. He went to grab his cell phone out of his pocket when they finally spoke. "Yeah see I don't think so. You are not calling for anyone." "She could be dying. Why are you doing this? Why her? She never did anything to you. Please let me get her some help!" he pleaded. "Wow that was almost a moment for us there, but you are right, she didn't do anything wrong." All too soon the gun was pointed at him; he had his back to it. He did not care that his back was to a gun, all he cared about was this beautiful girl lying here crying and bleeding. There was a second popping sound, and pain worse than anything imaginable shot right through him. "Why? I don't understand," he whispered as his body fell close but not touch hers. She looked at him with heavy lids and full of pain and tried to tell him that she loves him. He was trying to do the same. Slowly they started to stretch their limbs to try to touch each other. The pain in her chest was so bad, as will as the pain in his back. They were barely able to touch each others finger tips.

Her POV

He was so perfect, and he was all mine. I swear I was the luckiest woman in the world. The way his hands felt on my skin, his lips pressing up against me, I swear he will be the death of me. What a way to go. After spending all night celebrating with our friends and family, it was nice to _finally _have some alone time. If we didn't make it to that bed soon I would surely explode. This was the most perfect day and was beginning to be the most perfect evening. At least that was until his sister kept calling. I mean I love her to pieces, but c'mon she had to know what we were going to be doing. We were all over each other all night long. So when her phone rang for the second time, she knew something was going on. Even she isn't that insistent with out a good reason.

"Someone better be in the hospital for this interruption or I am very likely to send you there," she answered.

"Listen is everything ok? I have been having the worst feeling ever since we dropped you guys off. I can't shake the feeling of doom. I was hoping it would pass, but it hasn't yet and I need to know that you guys are alright."

"Yeah Hun, we are fine."

"We'd be even better and naked if you would stop calling, short stuff. Aren't we going to be seeing you in a few hours anyway?" he called out as we laughed.

"Yeah yeah ok. I just can't shake this feeling and wanted to make sure two of my favorite people were ok."

"We're good I promise, now I'm not trying to be rude but I can gonna hang up now so that you don't hear the very naughty things that are about to happen here." I probably shouldn't have said that to her, but I needed to get her off the damn phone, like 5 minutes ago.

"Oh ew! What is wrong with you? Don't tell me that, that's my big brother you are talking about. Yeah hanging up now that you traumatized me. See you in a few hours babe."

The call was barely ended before he attacked my mouth and nipples again. All I could do was moan at his assault. His hands felt so good on me. I didn't think that we could ever get enough of each other. My skin feels like it is on fire as his hand trails slowly down me and into my panties. Did I say how good he is with his hands? I want more. I need more. All I can think is 'Thank God' when he finally slides his fingers into me. I couldn't be patient anymore. I need to feel him, too. I reach my hand down inside of his boxers and grabbed a hold of his magnificent erection. He was so hard at this point; it had to be getting painful. As I lowered my hand down his length, and brought it back up I rubbed my thumb over the head, causing him to make the most incredible moan I have ever heard. I started moving my hand in time with him moving his fingers in and out of me. My body was starting to tingle and I knew it was only a matter of moments before I came. I tightened my grip on him slightly and this time when my hand came up, I twirled the barbell at the head knowing how good that made him feel. I smiled as he hissed and gently bit my bottom lip. I was about to finish undressing,when I heard a thud from across the room. Normally this wouldn't even register with me cause Guinness, his sweetheart bear of a dog, was one noisy bitch, but I guess his sister's phone call got to me a little. I pulled away from him started and asked if he heard it, too. He didn't seem to be troubled by it, so we continued with our ministrations. My eyes were closed and felt like my whole body was on fire. I wanted him so bad.

I saw a burst of light from behind my closed eyelids. My eyes shot open and I had to blink several times from the harsh light that now surrounded the previously dark room. I will never in my life forget what I saw in that moment. There was a girl standing there with tear stained cheeks, mascara running down her face, pointing a gun at me. What the fuck? I knew this girl. I _work _with this girl. Some words were being spoken, but all I could here was blood rushing through me. All at once I heard a loud noise and was in the most excruciating pain I had ever been in. I could barely feel my body hit the ground, as the pain in my chest was too much. "Help me. Please," I tried to say. I am not sure whether any sound was coming out of my mouth. I had to try, though. "I love you, so much," I told him as he grabs something. I think he is trying to help but oh my God he needs to stop. What ever he is doing hurts so fucking bad. My eyes no longer want to stay open. It is getting hard to breathe. I can barely see his lips moving, but I cannot hear him. I try and try to tell him this but he is not listening. Where is he going? Can't he tell that I need him here, to help me? I need the pain to go away. Maybe he is going to call the police and get the crazy girl out of the house. I hear a muffled sound and the next thing I know he is laying next to me with a panicked look in his eyes. I try to reach out for him but I'm just not close enough and my body just isn't cooperating with me. I feel tears start to form in my eyes but cannot make my hands move to wipe them away. My eyes are darting all over the place trying to make sense of what is going on and what we can do. This is when I see red. There is red everywhere. It is pooling around the two of us. I think that I hear another noise, but I cannot be sure. My vision is starting to blur and everything is starting to have a grey misty look to it. I can barely make out the back of the girl's head before she leans down putting her face extremely close to his, and then abruptly stands up and out of my line of sight. Then everything goes black and there is nothing except for my fear and this horrible pain shooting through my body. Soon there is not even that.

His POV

"Why? I don't understand." I really didn't understand. How did she get in? Why in the hell did she just shoot the love of my life? Why in the hell won't the bleeding stop? There's blood everywhere. Before I could even get another thought out I heard the noise of the gun and instantaneously felt a searing pain in the back of my shoulder. Now I always thought of myself as having a very high pain tolerance, but I can say I have never felt anything like this before. I fell to the ground, my eyes locked on my girls. I felt moisture fill my eyes. She has to be alright. I need to find away to get her help. I try to reach out to her, and can't quite make it. I tell her I love her as I notice the light in her eyes start to fade. This can't be happening. Why is this happening? For once everything was going right. Is it possible for someone to be too happy? Is that what happened? I need to get to my phone. My senses are starting to dull. My vision is starting to fade. I have lost all sense of time and space. I need my girl. She is the only thing that makes everything better and she is laying a mere foot from me and growing paler and paler by the minute. I hear a rhythmical thumping sound. A pair of black boots blocks my view of my girl's eyes. The owner of the boots bends down and grabs my hair. "Now you know how it feels to lose someone you love. Enjoy hell," she said, reeking of cheap alcohol. With that she walked away, and I heard the front door slam shut.

_Now's my chance._ I have to get to a damn phone and call 911. My girl really doesn't look good. I cannot lose her. I refuse to lose her. I am starting to feel lightheaded as I try to stand. It was pointless; I fall back down almost to where I was. I reach out and try to grab her hand. I am pleading with her to stay with me. She promised forever and she was going to give it to me damnit. Her eyes are closed now and I am not even sure she is breathing. I can't move. I feel like I am paralyzed. It takes a few minutes to realize that I am bleeding almost as much as she is. Fuck! What are we going to do? How am I supposed to get help when I can't even fucking move? I feel anxiety creeping in and my heart is starting to race. In theory I know that I need to calm the fuck down, but really? How would that even be possible? My girl is dying not even 10 feet from me and there is nothing that I can do. I am so worried about her that I am not paying any attention to my own pain. Who cares what happens to me as long as she is ok. It is hurting to breathe, and I can feel my breaths getting more and more shallow. The pools of blood are getting bigger and bigger by the second. I feel the tears streaming down my face.

I hope my sister's bad feeling comes back and she comes to check things out. I hope my neighbors have been awoken by the gun shots and called for help. Someone has to help us. Please at least help my beautiful girl. I had such big plans for us. We had big plans for us. Things were finally moving in the right direction. We were so close to our dreams coming true. I would give it all up in a second for her to be alright. Why isn't anyone here to help yet? I have never, in all my life, felt so completely and utterly helpless. I stare at my girl. My vision is blurry from tears that won't stop falling. I imagine seeing her in a white dress, walking down the aisle. She would look so beautiful. Then I almost wish I could laugh, because knowing her, she would not want to wear white. My girl wasn't much for tradition. I am so tired all of a sudden. My last thought before the darkness took over was of my beautiful girl covered in my ink and steel smiling down at me looking so much like an angel it almost hurts to look.

His sister's POV

I was so happy when I talked to my best friend and heard that her and my brother were ok. Sometimes I just get these feelings, and more times then not they are spot on. I just know that something really bad is going to happen. It was so bad and so intense that I convinced our other friends to come and stay at my house, with my husband and I. We pretty much have an open door policy meaning everyone comes in and out at all times, but this was different. If 4 of us in our little group were here and safe, then I my bad feeling got any worse it could only be directed toward the missing two. Everyone had started to settle down and get ready for bed. No news is good news, right?

I tossed and turned for a little while before I couldn't take it anymore. I am sure if my husband was any other man he would have left to sleep on the couch by now or something, but not him, he was staying here just in case I needed him. All of a sudden, just as I thought it was safe to close my eyes and make an attempt at sleep a huge wave of sadness came over me. It was awful. The tears started flowing. My chest hurt. It felt like my heart was breaking, the sadness was too much. I have never felt such a strong negative emotion before. I shot straight up in bed clutching my chest over my heart, hoping it would somehow ease the pain there. My loving husband looked at me with concern in his eyes as he gently sat up.

"Babe?" he asked.

"It's bad. It hurts so badly," I looked at him with tears pouring down my face for no particular reason.

"Let's go. Get dressed while I wake the others. We're in this together, love," he said as he kissed the top of my head and ran out of our bedroom. I ran around and grabbed the first articles of clean clothing that I could find. I didn't even care when I noticed I grabbed sweat pants and an old concert tshirt. I barely had my leg in the sweats when I heard one of the guest bedrooms slam open. I hear my husband telling them, "Its time to roll. Lets go." This was followed by a long string of profanities that I couldn't quite make out. I was busy grabbing pants, a shirt and shoes and throwing them in the general direction of my husband. He ran down the hall after me grabbing the clothing and getting dressed. I grabbed my purse and keys and slipped a pair of flipflops on my feet. I ran out of my house and started the car, letting it warm up for a second before everyone jumped in. My sweet man opened the passenger's side door. "Sorry sweetheart. There is no way in hell I am going to let you drive right now." I whispered words of thanks to him and got in the car. By the time we pulled out of the driveway I was hysterical. My husband was holding my hand and my friends in the back seat reached up and had their hands on my shoulder in comfort. I love these people, I really do, but right now I need to find out what the hell happened. Why does it feel like I lost my other half? My soul mate? Oh no! What if that is exactly what happened?

"Drive faster, NOW!"

That was all that I needed to say and my husband was speeding as fast as he could. We made it to my brother's house in just minutes. I was out of the car before I think it had even stopped moving. I ran to the front door and banged on it as hard as I could, yelling for my brother or my best friend to come open the door. Everyone surrounded me and my big old teddy bear of a friend reached around me to grasp the door handle, pausing only to look down at me. I nodded slightly and he opened the door. "Why isn't it locked? Where's Gin?" he asked as he whistled for her to come. We each called out for our friends, and received no response. I was still a mess, my heart still ached, but I was no longer crying as I made my way to the staircase. "Guys, let's go up," I said to them. "I better not walk on them getting it on or anything." I just shook my head; he was always trying to lighten the mood when things got heavy. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we started going up the stairs together. It was eerie quiet. This house was never, ever this damn quiet. What the hell was going on? As soon as we got to the top of the stairs we could see that the master bedroom door was open. I could also see what almost looked like a shoe. We all rushed into the bedroom and where horrified by what we saw.

I gasped and ran and stood in between my best friend and my brother I grabbed for the sheet on their bed and tried to apply pressure to his back. "Go get me some towels, please. You guys call 911. This is bad. This is so bad," I said my voice thick with emotion. "Already on it, Hun," was the reply that I received. My husband came back with towels and used one to put pressure on my brothers wound while I spun to do the same. I vaguely hear them on the phone with the emergency operator. I can't believe this. I never would have in a million years expected something as horrendous as this to happen to people like them. Someone called out, "We need to know if they are breathing and have a pulse." I leaned my head over and listened for any sounds of breathing while my fingers went right to her neck to check for a pulse. I noticed my husband over there doing the same. His eyes filled with tears as he nodded his head and watched as I kept moving my fingers back and forth between her neck and her wrist. "His breathing is really shallow and his heart rate while accelerated seems rather weak. Hun, I am going to help you with her ok? Why don't you go with your brother for a minute?" I slid over to my brother holding the towel and kissed his forehead. I started whispering to him, telling him to fight damnit, he was tough and so was she and now was the time to show us what they are made of. My husband's voice was barely above a whisper when he said her breathing and pulse are weak and erratic, at best. More tears, this time from the 4 of us. I hear my friend's deep voice relaying the information on the phone, as his fiancee comes over. "Let me sit with him for a few minutes, why don't you call your mom and dad. It will be ok. I will keep him company," she said and kissed me on the cheek. I got up to grab my phone out of my pocket and called my parents. They were never up this late, but with Dad being a doctor I knew they had a phone right next to them in case there was an emergency. I chuckled humorlessly, 'just like this,' I thought to myself.

"Hello?"

"Daddy?" I whispered, as a fresh set of tears came running down my face.

"What happened? Is everything ok? Are you ok? Is anyone hurt?"

"Daddy we need you and Mom, now. How fast can you get to Edward's house?"

"We can be there in 10 minutes, pumpkin. You're mother is up and getting ready right now."

My friend called out, "The ambulance should be here within 15 minutes."

"Ambulance? 15 minutes? I will be there in 10. I love you."

I put my phone back in my pocket and turned toward the people who meant everything to me. I noticed that at some point in time the guys had started CPR on her. I sat down in between the two of them, grabbed one of each of their hands, and placed them in my lap.

Dad and Mom got there in 8 minutes. "Hello?" they called out. "We … we're all up here," was my husband's reply. I am eternally grateful because I seem to have lost my voice, or maybe I lost my desire to talk, when the only people I wanted to talk to were laying here unconscious and bleeding everywhere. "Oh, dear God! Does anyone know what happened here?" my father asked. My mother sobbed and walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me. She tried to pull me into a hug and I refused. It's not that I don't love my mother or her hugs, but hugging her meant letting go of them and that is not something I am prepared to do. I leaned my head toward her and offered her a sad smile, which she returned. She understood. My dad however was a whirlwind between the two of them, checking vitals and whatnot. He removed the towels to assess the situation, I assume. All I know is that I did not like the expression that was on his face. We reapplied new towels to their wounds and kept applying pressure. I could hear some one explain to my parents what we knew of what happened tonight. I didn't even have it in me to decipher who was talking, all that mattered was the two that couldn't.

After what felt like an eternity, which was only about 5 minutes in reality, I heard sirens and then I heard tires screeching in front of the house. "I am going to go and get them up to speed." my dad said as we made his way back to the staircase. There was so much commotion going on next and I had no idea what was happening. I just held on to those two hands with every thing that I had, I was gently rocking back and forth whispering all the things that I had wanted to say and hoped that they already knew. And I threatened them. I told them how they had better make it back to us or I was going to find them up there in heaven and kick their asses for this. I asked them who, and why, and vowed if it was the very last thing I did – whomever did this to them would pay. They would pay dearly. I lifted their hands and lowered my head it was resting on top of them. I felt a small tug coming from her arm and looked over at the paramedic trying to get me to let go of her. I think I may have growled at him. Who the fuck does he think he is? Why would I let go of my best friend? She needs me. "Darlin' you need to let go of her hand so they can work on her and get her to the hospital. Ok? You don't have to let go of _them _just their hands, c'mon my love," my husband explained as he gently removed their hands from my grip and replaced them with his. He pulled me into a tight embrace and cried with me as our friends were moved on to stretchers to be taken to the ambulance. IV lines were drawn on the both of them and the paramedics had taken over CPR. My father walked with them and talked in low voices as they started moving out of the room, her first then him. We all stood up and began to follow them down the stairs and out of the house. No one said anything. There was nothing to say. Dad gave Mom a brief hug, kissed the top of her head and whispered something to her. She nodded in reply and we all watched as he hopped into the back of one of the ambulances. The remaining five of us stood there huddled together and watched as they drove away to the nearest emergency room.

**A/N Ok be nice now, this is my first chapter of my first ff story. **

**The song for this chapter is Beyond The Sun, by Shinedown**

**I want to give a special thank you to cullenlvr83 for all her help and support, you kick some serious ass sweets!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we go with Chapter 2; I hope everyone enjoys it. Thank you to everyone who added it, or left a review, hell even just for reading it. **

**Unfortunately I have to add the disclaimers that:**

**none of the characters are mine**

**I do not own Yab Yum, but I used to frequent there back in the good ole days**

**While the Carnival of Madness is a real event, I unfortunately was unable to attend :(**

**I need to send out one helluva big thank you to Cullenlvr83. I could not have done this without you, sweets! Haven't read her stories? What are you waiting for? She's freakin awesome!**

**Well I'm knocking on Death's door**

**Will I take my rest, among the blessed**

**Mother are you waiting **

**Father are you pacing**

**I'm coming home**

**I'm knocking on Death's door**

**Will I take my rest, in my Sunday best**

**Mother are you anxious**

**Father are you gracious**

**I'm coming home**

**I've been away too long**

**For so long you've been strong**

**I know it was wrong**

**But I'm coming home**

**Well I'm knocking on Death's door**

**Will I take my rest, have I passed the test**

**Mother are you praying**

**Father I am saying**

**I'm coming home**

"**Death's Door" by Depeche Mode**

APOV

We stood there frozen, watching the ambulance speeding down the street with the sirens blaring. We were all trying to wrap our heads around what we just saw, what just happened to the people we love. We were pulled out of our thoughts, with a cell phone chiming. My mother pulled her phone out and checked her text message.

"That was Carlisle, they are taking them to ORMC since they have a trauma unit. Come on guys, lets head down there." We all started towards Mom's car when Em spoke up, "Jazz, you mind if I drive your car up? It might be better to have more then one vehicle out there just in case someone needs to leave, no one will be stranded out here."

"That's a good idea man. Thanks." With that he tossed his keys to Emmett, held me tighter and veered me in the direction of my parents Mercedes.

The ride to the hospital was extremely quiet. There were no words shared between the three of us. I mean, what was there to say? I am not sure that I even had my head wrapped around what had happened tonight. My brother and my best friend were being rushed to the hospital. My brother and my best friend could be dying. Hell, they could be dead. As soon as those thoughts reached my mind, I knew I had to banish them from my thoughts forever. I refused to accept that they would not have their "happily ever after." I refused to accept that there is even a _slight _possibility of things not working out.

I looked over at my mother, who had silent tears running down her face, and grasped her hand in mine. She squeezed gently and removed her hand to wipe away the tears. "Everything is going to be fine. Do you two hear me? Anything less than that is not acceptable." Jasper and I just nodded our heads. I turned around in my seat to look at my husband. Jazz was my rock. He lent me strength when ever I needed it, and right not I needed it more than anything. I noticed that Emmett and Rose, who were following us, had turned down a side street. "I wonder where they are going," I wondered aloud.

"Don't worry about it, Darlin'. I am sure they will be at the hospital in no time."

We were almost to the hospital when Mom's phone rang. I knew that it could only be my father or the hospital on the other end of the phone seeing as how late it was. When she hung up and simply dropped the phone into her lap, she had a far-away expression on her face.

"Mom? What's going on?"

"That was your father, Dear. It is still too early to know anything. What they do know is that both Edward and Bella need surgery. Carlisle wants to be in with Edward, but thinks he might be needed to assist with Bella. I am not sure the details, but it seems that Bella's wound is more complicated and the surgery she will need will be more severe."

I didn't like the dead sound in her voice. It scared me most of all. My mom was the strongest woman I have ever known. Stronger than Rose, even, and that is saying a lot.

"Alice, sweetheart, we will find out more once we get there. Your father needs to scrub in so he can help where ever they will need him the most. The odds are they won't let him work on Edward anyway. It's against hospital policy to work on your family unless there is no one else available. We are only about five minutes away now, Hun. We can ask questions when we get there."

I felt like I was going to be sick. These few minutes to get to the hospital, seemed like hours, weeks even. Who knew when on the verge of a panic attack time slowed down to a snail's pace? It's kind of like those dreams. You know, the ones where you need to get out of somewhere or get to somewhere only to find that you can't move.

Finally! Finally I see the sign that announces we are at the hospital. We follow the street as it turned around the building and into a large parking lot. Once the car was in park and the engine was off, all three of us ran into the building marked "Emergency Only" barely even slowing down enough to allow for the automatic doors to fully open.

"I am going to ask at the desk if they have any information," my mom told us. I turn and wrap my arms around Jazz, and he held me close, placing small kisses on top of my head. Even though he has yet to say it, I know he is having a hard time with this too. Jasper and Edward were best friends for many years, they were like brothers. The day he met Bella, though, it was like he was finding his long lost sister. Those two kind of adopted each other. Bella was so damn stubborn that sometimes Jasper would be the only one that could talk any sense into her. When Bella's life took it's twists and turns over the years, it was always Jasper that could help her through, even when Edward couldn't. I remember one day Jazz and I went to pick her up from her dad's house...

_We just pulled up to the Chief's house. We were going to pick up Bella and start getting things together for Thanksgiving. We were going to have one big feast together, since the six of us were determined that a holiday, isn't a holiday without spending it with each other. We walked up the few steps to the front door and I let us in. I can hear Charlie watching ESPN on TV in the living room and Bella pops her head out of the kitchen when she hears the front door close behind us. _

"_Hey guys, give me like 2 seconds to finish this and I will be ready. Dad, say hi to Alice and Jasper."_

"_Hi Alice. Good to see you. Jasper huh? Who are you and what do you want with my girls?"_

"_Dad! Stop it. Jasper has been designated my big brother. Be nice to your new son. You know some people are sensitive about being adopted. Jeez," Bella explained this to him . I have no idea how she made it through that with a straight face, but she did. I was thoroughly impressed. _

"_My new son? Is that right?" Charlie asked._

"_It would appear so. Any good games on today?"_

_Jasper sat down next to Charlie and began watching some TV. Charlie never said another word about it. He just accepted that he now apparently had a son. _

"_Hmph, well she needs someone to look after her and I guess I can't be there all the time."_

Now Jasper was all the family she had. He took his "big brother" role very seriously, and right now I could tell it was killing him to not know what was going on. Mom finally came back from the desk. Unfortunately the only information that she was able to receive was that they were both in surgery and apparently one was in much worse condition then the other. They could not offer any more information until they were out of surgery, and even then they could only release it to their next of kin. I was pretty sure that Dad was Edward's, although I am not entirely sure who they would call for Bella. It really started to worry me because if they didn't have a next of kin, then how were we going to get any updates. I quickly dismissed this thought, realizing that my father would have access to her medical records.

"I think that we should wait for Em and Rose to get here, then why don't we move up to the surgical waiting room. It will be a little more private," Mom said.

We both just nodded as we made our way to the world's most uncomfortable chairs. After sitting down for a few minutes, we heard the sliding doors to the ER open. Rose and Em were finally here.

"Where did you guys go? What took so long?"

"Is there any news?"

Emmett and myself started talking at the same time.

"No news, really. Just that they are both in surgery. We were waiting for you guys so we can go up to the other waiting room," I explained.

"Sorry it took us a little longer to get here. We stopped by the house to bring you guys a change of clothes and some coffee. I thought we could all use some."

"Thanks, Rose. But clothes?"

"Sweets, take a look at yourself. We are all standing here in the hospital, wearing pajamas, and covered in blood," she whispered.

I looked down at myself and at the rest of them and realized just how bad we all looked. I gave her a brief hug and we made our way to the elevators. When we got to the waiting room there, Rose handed one of the bags to Emmett, I am assuming that had clothes for him and Jazz, and took 3 of the coffees that he was carrying. "C'mon girls, let's attempt at getting cleaned up."

Rose handed us each a coffee and put the bag down on the bathroom floor. After realizing that we were alone in the bathroom, she turned one of the faucets on as hot as it would go and began removing her clothing. As she started to wash up in the sink, my mom and I followed suit. "Thank you so much Rose for getting these things for us," Mom told her. "Not a problem, Esme. I really needed to be able to do something helpful. Since technically Em and I aren't family, we kind of volunteered to be the gophers. If you guys need anything at all we can get it and bring it to you if you don't want to leave." Rose let out a sigh and turned to look straight ahead as she washed the blood from her hands and arms. The moment she looked down, silent tears made their way down her cheeks. "Rose, you two may not be blood related but you _are _family in every sense of the word. Don't you ever doubt that, dear," Mom told her. "Thank you," she whispered back. We all washed our faces and dried our eyes, and Rose handed out the clothes that she picked out. She actually picked for comfort, for us being here for the long haul. She handed us all a pair of Victoria's Secret sweat pants and long sleeve thermal shirts. After we put our dirty clothes into the bag we grabbed our coffees. I looked at the label and gave Rose a raised eyebrow look. "There wasn't a Starbucks on the way, so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts. Honestly, though taste it. I got us all Dunkaccino's and they are delicious." Ok, I had to give it to her, it was delicious. I didn't know if it was because I was that tired, in that desperate need for coffee, but this was absolutely one of the best things I have ever tasted.

We walked back to the waiting room and realized the guys were already done changing. I looked to Jazz and tilted my head in question. He barely shook his head back and forth. There wasn't any news yet. He got that far away look on his face, and I knew he needed a few minutes. I went and sat next to my mom and placed my head on her shoulder. Rose sat on Emmett's lap with his arms wrapped protectively around her. We weren't there for even ten minutes when the police showed up asking questions. The whole thing was a blur. At this point I am not even sure what they asked or what was answered. I just kept saying over in my head 'Please let them be ok. Please let them be ok.'

It was a few more hours of waiting when a doctor came in and looked at all of us. "Mrs Cullen?" he asked. My mother immediately grabbed my hand and we made our way over to him. "Yes? Is he ok? Please tell me my Edward is ok."

"Ma'am, why don't we take a seat. Or would you prefer to talk in my office?"

"No here is fine, I want my family here around me." With this Rose, Em, and Jasper all moved over to surround us.

"Edward's condition is something that he will make a full recovery from. Depending on him and his body's ability to heal and his ability to follow proper care instructions, he could be almost as good as new, albeit with a new scar, in as little as a few months. He lost a significant amount of blood and we did have to transfuse some O neg, but other than that everything looks good. We are very lucky that the bullet did most of it's damage in his muscles and we were able to remove it and repair the damage as much as possible. He is still going to be out of it for a while and probably won't even wake up for a day or two. This was a lot of stress and it has taken its toll on him. His body needs all the rest that it can get to help aid in his recovery. After he wakes up, I would like to keep him here for a few days for observation. When he gets home, however, he is going to need someone to help look after him for a while since he will not be able to move his right arm. We will provide him with a sling to help keep it immobilized. That's about where we are at right now. Do you have any questions?"

"Other than when can we see him, I can't think of any. Thank you, Doctor."

"No need to thank me. At the moment, he is still in the surgery room being sutured and such. I wanted to come down here as soon as possible to let you know what was going on. We need to run a couple of tests and make sure that he is not having a reaction to the blood and then we can get him settled into a room. As soon as this is done, either me or one of the nurses will let you know what room he is in. I do however ask that we limit the visitors to two at a time."

We nodded in agreement and murmured words of thanks, and the doctor turned to leave the room. We sat quietly just thinking over the turn of events. Jasper suddenly shot up and announced that he needed to check on the nurses station to see if there is any news on Bella. He returned with a dejected expression on his face. I rushed over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"All they know is that she is still in surgery. It's been what two, maybe three hours now?" His voice was trembling and it broke my heart. He finally wrapped his arms around me and I held him a little tighter as I placed a kiss on his bicep. We sat back down in the slightly more comfortable chairs and continued to wait.

"They don't even have a TV in here? What do they expect people to do while they wait?" Emmett asked. " I am going to go downstairs and grab some more coffees for everyone and see if the gift shop has a deck of cards or something. Wanna go, bro?"

Jazz nodded and gently kissed me before turning and walking away. I was getting so tired of staring at these walls. I was tired of watching the nurses switch shifts. I was tired of waiting to see Edward. I was tired of waiting to see if Bella was going to make it. I was about to ask if maybe they had a coke machine in this floor or something since the guys were taking a long time with our coffees, when this angel of a nurse walked in and offered us a meek smile and a pillow with a scratchy blanket. Which, of course, we all accepted willingly. Maybe taking a little power nap will help the time pass by, if nothing else. That is the last thing that I remembered thinking before being pulled into one of the most confusing dreams ever.

BPOV

Everywhere I look there is this dense fog. I can barely even see my hand in front of my face. There doesn't seem to be anyone else here, where ever here is. I just keep walking, thoroughly confused about where I was and what I doing here. I have the distinct feeling that I am missing something or someone. I am so confused that I cannot even think straight. I feel like I have been walking around for hours, I am so tired, but I cannot stop. I have to find my way to something really important.

"Hello?" I call out, but I receive no response. "C'mon there has got to be someone else out here. Someone? Anyone?"

Normally I enjoy a little time by myself, but right now, I was starting to freak the hell out. I wandered around through this mist trying to make some kind of sense to what was going on. There was a dull ache in my chest, I could only imagine the feeling resembled a broken heart. Which if you think about the fact that I am so sad and on the verge of tears, it makes perfect sense. But why would I have a broken heart? My head starts to throb as I try to figure out just what in hell is going on here. What am I missing?

I see something out the corner of my eye. I can't quite make out what it is, but it is the first of ...well anything ...that I have seen since I have been here, so I start to make my way towards it.

I feel like I have been walking for days, months even. I am so tired and this spot of light that I seem to be chasing just gets further and further away. I can't seem to catch up to it. I am exhausted, mentally and physically, and scared and I just feel so … lost. I stop chasing after this unattainable light and sit down. I pull my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them. It doesn't take long for the tears to start. I suddenly feel so helpless.

I rest my head on the top of my knees, too exhausted to hold it up anymore, too exhausted to cry anymore. I must be losing my mind, because for a second there I think that I hear someone humming. I try to pick my head up to look around, but I just don't have the energy. I am about to throw in the towel, so to speak. Just say 'fuck it' to it all. Someone will eventually find me, right? Surely as much as I am looking for someone here, someone is looking for me as well. Maybe I can find a phone and call someone. Who would I call? I am starting to panic now as I realize that I cannot remember anyone who could help me. I start to try to remember things like who my friends are, and I am coming up blank. I start with something smaller – what day is it? Shit, I don't know. I am officially freaking the fuck out. I don't know what to do. I can't even fathom getting up and walking again. How long have I been sitting here? The fog seems to be getting thicker and I use the heel of my hands to rub at my eyes, my vision is so blurred at this point I cannot tell if it's a product of the fog or the tears. I think that I just need to lie down. I am so sad, my heart hurts, and I am so scared. Maybe, just maybe, if I lay down I can fall asleep, and maybe if I can accomplish this I will wake up and everything will be normal, because surely this is just an awful dream.

I lay down in the fetal position with my arms wrapped around my knees again, covered by the never ending fog. I close my eyes and try to will myself to sleep. "Please make this go away." I whisper.

I am not sure how long I am laying there for when I hear the humming again. It is soft and low, but it almost sounds like it is getting closer. I open my eyes and see a gentle glow; it appears to be getting closer as the humming gets louder and more defined. Suddenly I feel enveloped in this light and I feel someone running their fingers through my hair. I look behind me to the source of it and there is a woman there who appears to be almost glowing. She has a kind face and looks vaguely familiar.

"Are you an angel?" I ask dumbly.

"Oh, my sweet child, something like that. You must be terrified here all by yourself."

"Do I know you?"

"Well I should say so, Bella. I am your Grandma Marie."

I start to feel my confusion melt away a little bit and a sense of serenity is filling me as I start to remember little things about my grandmother, including the fact that she passed away several years ago.

"Grandma, where are we? Have I … died?"

"Bella, we are neither here nor there, we are nowhere and everywhere. Sweetheart, there has been a terrible mistake and I do not believe that it is your time."

"What do you mean? I don't understand."

"You're time was not up yet, dear. You were not supposed to be here, and once you got here you lost hope, you are giving up. You are at a major crossroads. You need to fight this. You need to remember why you need to pull through."

"I don't know. I can't remember anything, anyone. Is there even a reason to try? It hurts so much just even thinking that, why? Why does it hurt?" I start rubbing at the ache in my chest, tears again running down my face..

"Because your heart is breaking, and so is someone else's. Just as your heart is breaking for him, his is breaking for you."

"Who?"

She stopped running her fingers through my hair and whispered "Edward."

The moment she said his name, I was flooded with emotions. I needed to find my way to him.

"How do I get to him? How do I get out of here?"

"Oh my sweet sweet girl, your journey is going to be a long one. You chose to give up and now you have to find all of the reasons that you need to go back. This is going to be a difficult path for you, my dear. Sometimes, the best way to get back to where you need to be is to start at the beginning and work your way through. My time with you is up. I must go now, I love you, Bella. I will always watch over you, but I can no longer interfere. Please remember this, start at the beginning."

I wipe my tears away and turn to give her a hug and tell her I love her, only she is fading and I can barely see her anymore.

I stand up with a new set of determination. I am going back to my Edward. Start at the beginning...start at the beginning. I am still having a hard time remembering everything, and there were so many beginnings. Maybe I need to start at the first beginning. The day we met. When was that? What happened that day? Memories started seeming their way back in.

_I was cleaning up the counters and watching the clock. Thank God, my shift was almost over. I absolutely loved my job, but I had some where I needed to be in about 45 minutes. Today was the day the concert tickets went on sale. Not just any concert, but The Sound of Madness concert. It is going to be epic. 4 of the best bands of our time. It doesn't get much better than that. I grab my cell from beneath the bar and call my best friend and roommate, Alice._

"_Hey bitch where are you? I thought that you were picking me up."_

"_Damn, girl you're not even off work yet. Calm down. We will make it in time. Anyway I have Em holding a spot in line for us. I had to pick my brother up from the airport."_

"_Oh yeah, sorry sweets, it completely slipped my mind."_

"_It's fine, but we are almost there so we will see you in just a few."_

_With this she hung up the phone and I was listening to a dial tone. I finished wiping down the tables, checking all the machines and yelled to Angela, who was looking for something or another in the bag._

"_Hey Ang? Alice is going to be here in just a few. I'm going to make us some coffees and head out. You'll be ok by yourself, right?"_

_She looked at me like I was growing a second head. "Uh yeah. I have been known to run things here with out catastrophe on occasion."_

_I looked at her with raised eyebrows and we both started laughing thinking about the say she started a little oven fire. We were able to put it out easily and the wall looked kinda cool with its charred markings. It fits right in with all the other oddities around here, and yes that includes us. It was usually just Ang, Alice and me that worked here, but with the holidays around the corner we might need to pick up some extra help. The problem is, no one was good enough. You needed a certain type of personality to work in a place like Yab Yum. Not every one is able to handle the kind of things that can be seen or heard in here. We are a very eclectic place. Essentially we are a coffee shop. Just not your typical run of the mill coffee shop. We have huge plush mismatched chairs, couches and barstools. The tables have all been handpainted, some of them done by yours truly. There was a stage up front being blocked off by a large red curtain at the moment. The stage was where our entertainment took place. Some nights it was poetry readings, some nights it was open mic nights, and things of that nature. Along the walls of this fine establishment were paintings for sale by all local artists. This was my favorite place in the world to be. _

_I grabbed four of our to-go cups that were partially hidden beneath the counter and started filling them with our Vanilla Almond milk lattes. I figured I would do something simple since I didn't know what the guys liked, or if they even like coffee. By the time I was sprinkling cinnamon on the whipped cream Ali was prancing through the door with the goofiest grin on her face. _

"_What's up chicken butt?"_

"_Oh nooothing," she sang her reply._

"_Yeah whatever. Where's your brother and his friend?"_

"_Edward and Jasper are waiting by the car. Are one of those for me?" she asked gesturing to the coffees I was now snapping lids onto. I wordlessly slid two of them over toward her. _

"_So what's up with them? Are they staying with us or what?"_

"_Yeah they will just have to take turns sleeping on the couch. I mean they are only here for like a week anyway."_

_I grab my messenger bag, yell out to Ang that I will see her the next day, grab the remaining two coffees and we make our way out the door. We get about a block away from her car when I stop dead in my tracks. There is the most beautiful person I have ever seen leaning against it talking to a tall, kind of lanky guy. _

"_The one with the darker hair is Edward, the blond is Jasper and he is so mine if I have anything to say about it."_

"_Uh huh." That was it, that was the best that I could manage to say. What the hell is wrong with me. _

"_Come on Bells, we have tickets to buy my dear." She linked her arm through mine and we did the Laverne and Shirley walk the rest of the way to her car. I am pretty sure that when we got there Alice made introductions, but I cannot be positive about that. Standing before me was this gorgeous specimen on a man with copper colored hair, and emerald green eyes. He was perfect. I lowered my gaze to his lips and gasped when I saw the two piercings there. Oh boy. It was going to be a long ass week._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here it is...finally. Yay! I want to give huge hugs and lots of thanks to Cullenlvr83 and MissWinkles. You girls are awesome! If you haven't yet, check out my banner at .com. Thank you thank you thank you to TwistedinMason for that. If anyone knows how to put in on my ff profile, _please,_ let me know. K? Thanks. Oh, one more thing, help a girl out and click the review button..**

**Oh yeah! I am not SM and unfortunately I do not own any of these characters, but damn isn't Edward hot when he has ink and steel ;)**

**I've been believing in something so distant  
>As if I was human<br>And I've been denying this feeling of hopelessness  
>In me, in me<strong>

**All the promises I made  
>Just to let you down<br>You believed in me, but I'm broken**

**I have nothing left  
>And all I feel is this cruel wanting<strong>

**We've been falling for all this time  
>And now I'm lost in paradise<strong>

**As much as I'd like the past not to exist  
>It still does<br>And as much as I'd like to feel like I belong here  
>I'm just as scared as you<strong>

**I have nothing left  
>And all I feel is this cruel wanting<strong>

**We've been falling for all this time  
>And now I'm lost in paradise<br>**  
>Lost in Paradise by Evanescence<p>

Esme's PoV

This was a mother's worst nightmare come to life. It was any parent's worst nightmare. To walk in and see your child lying on the floor, bleeding, barely holding on - this was what horror stories are made of. Honest to goodness horror stories.

My heart was breaking when Alice called Carlisle, but when I saw Edward on the floor, his outstretched arm, appearing to be reaching for Bella, it shattered completely.

Fresh tears starting forming in my eyes as I look around the waiting room trying to hold myself together. Alice and Rose finally fell into what appears to be an unrestful sleep, while Jasper and Emmett are halfheartedly playing a card game. I am so grateful that my son has his family here waiting for him, here to support him. The realization that Bella is not so fortunate weighs heavy on my heart. There is no one for us to call to be here for her. The closet person to a relative is Jasper, since Edward is going through his own horrors. I know that she has some close friends, but right now I cannot remember their names to even attempt to get a hold of them.

I take a sip of my now lukewarm coffee and sit near the boys.

"Hey, Jasper?" Oh my! I almost don't even recognize the sound of my now raspy voice.

"Yeah?" His eyes are red rimmed as well.

"I'm sorry, but right now I cannot even remember my own name. Are there some close friends of Bella's that we should call? I am sure when she gets out of surgery she would like some family here for her. I mean, I know we all are here, but we are going to be going back and forth between..."

"Yeah, Esme," Jasper interrupted. "I was waiting until we heard something, or at least until the sun came up before I called Jake. I know that they would want to be here for her."

"Thank you, Dear." I reach over and pat his hand before grabbing a hold of it and using my other hand to reach for Emmett.

"Ma, why don't you try to catch a nap? You know we will wake you as soon as the doctor comes out," Emmett says.

"Maybe I will just sit here and try to think positive. I wouldn't be able to sleep not knowing what is going on in there."

Emmett just nods and offers to ask the nurses for an update.

"It's ok, Sweetie. Thank you, but they have a lot to do. I am sure we will hear something soon. Excuse me."

I stand and make my way to the restrooms to freshen up at bit. I wash my face with cool water help alleviate some of the redness and puffiness surrounding my eyes. I look at myself in the mirror and take a couple of deep cleansing breathes. "I can do this. I can be strong for my family," I say to myself.

I return to the waiting room and I notice that Rose had gotten up and moved and was now sitting on Emmett's lap. I am so glad that they found each other. Even though only two are my biological children, I consider and treat them all as if they were my own. I once again think back to Bella, and how her parents won't be there for her after surgery. Watching Bella after she had lost her father was very difficult. Poor thing, no one that young should have to bury a parent.

I glance over to Jasper who is staring intently at his cellphone. "I'm not getting any reception up here guys, I am going to go downstairs and call Jake." I barely make out his words as he walks to the elevators, his shoulders hunched over in what appears to be defeat.

We are still sitting in the waiting room about ten minutes later when Jasper walks back in.

"'Were you able to get a hold of Jake, dear?"

"Yeah, I didn't get the chance to tell him the whole story, just that Bella and Edward were really hurt and in the hospital, and would probably be here for a while. He is calling the airline right away to book flights and is going to get someone to cover for him at work. He will call when he has is flight information."

"Good. That's good. I am sure Bella would appreciate it."

Just as I am about to suggest getting some coffee, the heavy doors from behind the nurses station open. I turned towards them with hope heavy in my heart that this was news about Edward or Bella. A tired looking woman in a doctor's coat walks towards us, and everyone moves to stand around me.

"Mrs. Cullen?"

"Yes? I'm Esme Cullen." I reach over and grab Alice's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm Doctor Denali. I operated on your son, Edward. We just got out of surgery about twenty minutes ago. While Edward did suffer from some blood loss, and there was a bit of damage done to his shoulder and surrounding muscles, we were able to repair all of it. Most of his injuries were in the muscle and he is going to have quite a lengthy recovery in front of him, I have but no reason to believe that he won't fully recovery."

"Is he going to have full movement of his arm? What kind of treatments are we looking at for him?"

"He is going to need physical therapy and someone to help care for him for a while, but that is something we can discuss in greater detail later on before he is released."

I let out a long breath and feel some tension leave my body. I look at my daughter and see tears of relief running down her cheeks, the same as mine.

"Thank you so much, Doctor. Can we see him?"

"He is still asleep at the moment. We are getting ready to move him to a surgical recovery room. Once he is there and settled, I will send out a nurse to bring you in. I can't guarentee he will be awake though. He may be pretty out of it considering the sedation."

"Thank you! Thank you so much."

"There's no need to thank me. I'm just doing my job. Someone will be out to get you shortly."

With that she smiled and walked back through the doors in which she entered from.

We all took a big collective sigh of relief as Doctor Denali shared the good news that we had been waiting to hear. We only needed to hear some good news about Bella and we would be ok.

We decide that now with some of our nerves eased we should try to get something to eat. We are going to need our strength. We head back to the waiting area after a somewhat edible cafeteria breakfast, feeling a little lighter in our hearts. We are so happy Edward is going to eventually be ok. I can't help but wonder when the severity of the situation is going to come crashing down upon us. All of our energy is being consumed with the welfare and health of Edward and Bella, so much so that no one is talking about the actual attack. There is no way for us to know what happened, or who did this horrible crime to them until one of them woke up. I can only hope that the investigators that are surely at the house find evidence to put this person behind bars for a very very long time.

We are sitting for about ten minutes, passing time with mindless banter when a sweet nurse with long dark hair and glasses tells us we can see Edward now.

Alice and I immediately stand to follow her, and Alice slips her arm around mine as a brilliant smile takes over her face. I can hear everyone else's footsteps following us. As soon as we step inside of the room, I turn to face the nurse.

"Thank you."

"You are very welcome, Mrs Cullen. Normally we do not let this many in the room at once, but tonight has been so hard on all of you, so that as long as it doesn't get too loud, I am sure no one will mind. I understand Ms Swan came in with Mr Cullen, is that correct?"

"Yes, they were brought in together, unfortunately. We haven't heard anything about Bella yet, other than she is still in surgery."

"What a shame," she says while slowly shaking her head. "I will keep an ear out and if I hear anything about her I will let you know right away. My name is Angela, by the way. I'm going to head back to the nurses station, but should you need anything, or if Mr Cullen wakes up, please let me know."

"Thank you again, Angela." She smiles and squeezes my shoulder as she leaves the room.

I sit down right next to Edward's bed and grab his hand cautiously, as to not disturb the IV in place. Alice lets go of my other hand and walks around to the other side, mimicking me. The others went to various spots in the room, but Jasper chooses to sit on the arm of the chair Alice is occupying. He wraps his arm around her and kisses the top of her head and I watch as she slowly leans her body toward his. I glance toward Emmett and Rosalie and see them sitting on the floor with her resting her head on his shoulder. The love in the room is palpable. I just wish Carlisle was here with us, although I understand his need to help with Bella's operation. I know that is where Edward would want him to be.

Everyone has their eyes darting between Edward and the door and I can't help but wonder if they are aware they are even doing it. While we are so grateful for Edward being alright, we still need to hear the same about Bella. My heart jumps into my throat at the mere thought of her not making it though. That kind of loss would be such a devastation to this family. I need to stop that train of thought, our Bella will be just fine.

We decide to put a movie on the television while we wait. Waiting for Edward, waiting for Bella; it's a good thing we can be patient when we need to be.

I am sitting in a rather awkward position, my chair is facing the television and since Edward's arm is in a sling to prevent movement, my arm is stretched almost completely across his chest. I stand and decide that it might be a good idea to stretch before my muscles get too tight. I look over at Edward and just barely start to slide my fingers off of his hand and release my grasp, when I feel a slight movement. I gasp and look over to Alice to see if she has felt it as well. She is positively glowing.

"Did you feel it too, Mom?"

"Yes." I am so happy that I refuse to even try to contain my smile.

I look down at just in time to his eyes slowly flutter open until I am looking into a sea of emerald green.

**EPOV**

You know that moment where you are not quite asleep and yet not awake either? That is where I am at, at least I think so. My head is a jumbled mess and I cannot seem to have any coherent thoughts. I have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I just woke up from a horrible nightmare, which is odd because we were all just out celebrating after the convention.

The foggy feeling in my head is finally starting to subside, but my relief is only short lived as the pain in my back and shoulder starts to take over. I try to move my arm up so I can rub my shoulder, but for some reason it is heavy and feels weighed down. I try to concentrate my thoughts on being able to move my arm, when I notice there is something warm in my hand. The warmth starts to pull away and I am not so sure that I want that to happen, so I try to squeeze my fingers and grasp on to it. I am not so sure how successful I am, but whatever I am holding stops moving. My other senses are starting to finally make an appearance, I can hear muffled voices and what sounds like a hockey game.

I've decided that now it may be a good time to open my eyes and find out what in the hell is going on, but my eyelids feel like they are almost glued down, and it takes a few good tries for them to finally open.

If I was confused before, then I have no idea what call what I am feeling now. I can not for the life of me figure out why I am looking up at my mother and sister, and why they are crying. I try to sit up but my mother tells me gently to lie back down.

"What the hell is going on?" I ask to no one in particular. _What the hell is wrong with my voice?_ I sound all raspy and shit, like someone that has smoked a pack of cigarettes too many. I start to look around the room and notice that I am most definitely not at home. Why does it look like I am in a fucking hospital? Where the hell is Bella? I am frantically looking around the room for her, when this annoying as hell beeping noise starts up and Emmett, Rose, and Jasper come into my line of sight.

"About damn time you woke up," Em says with relieved look on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean? Where's Bella? What's going on?" My shoulder hurts, my head is throbbing and if someone doesn't tell me what the fuck is going on soon, I am seriously going to lose it.

"I am going to let the nurse know that you're up," Jasper says as he pats my foot before exiting the room.

"Why did it look like Jazz has been crying? Someone tell me what the fuck is going on please?"

"What's the last thing that you remember, bro?" Em asks.

_Shit.. I can't even thing straight, how am I supposed to know?_

"Um, I remember us all going to the convention, and going out for a few drinks afterwards. I don't know things get a little confused after that."

Warning bells are now blaring in my head as I look at the distraught expressions on my family's faces. _There is no reason why I cannot remember, I didn't even drink that much. _I close my eyes and try to go through the night in my head.

"I remember being dropped off at the house and Bella and I walking inside. Huh, I remember there was something weird with the front door, but ignored it. I carried B upstairs. Then Alice called." When I say that she squeezes my hand tightly and I look over at her. There is so much pain in her eyes. All of a sudden a series of images comes crashing into my mind.

Bella.

Someone else being in the room.

A gun.

Blood, lots of blood.

Bella on the floor.

Pain in my back.

Bella.

I feel like I am going to be sick. My mother must see something in my expression, because she holds up a garbage bin for me as I empty the contents of my stomach. I still feel nauseated and purge more bile into the garbage, before finally setting my head back on the pillow. I am filled with a sense of dread and am scared shitless about Bella.

"Ho-ly shit. Where's Bella? Is she okay? I need to see her." I am trying to get out of bed, but my mother and freakishly strong sister are not having any it.

"Edward," Alice says in a warning tone, "You need to calm down. Your heart rate is going through the roof."

"You fucking think? Now tell me where the fuck Bella is, Alice. I am not going to calm down until I know she is okay."

"E, listen to me damnit, you are just waking up from surgery. Dad is with Bella in surgery right now, and we are all waiting for him to come tell us how she is. She's tough as hell and he's persistent like no one else, she will be fine. Freaking out isn't going to help anyone right now,so calm the fuck down before they make us leave."

A brunette girl, followed by Jasper, picks this moment to come into the room.

"Hi, Mr Cullen, I'm Angela, your nurse." She walks over to the monitors and frowns slightly."I see you are remembering what brought you in here?"

"How did you know?"

"There are very few things that would make your heart rate spike like that. I know you have been through an unimaginable ordeal, but I am going to need you to try to remain as calm as possible, alright?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Just calm down so you can heal and get the heck off my floor, okay? Now, do you need anything? How's your pain? Are you thirsty?"

"The pain is eh, alright I guess, nothing I can't handle. I just want to know how Bella is. Is there any way to find out what's going on? Or how serious it is?"

"Well, I can go ahead and order some pain meds, if you would like. By the time they get here and kick in, you would be glad you didn't wait for them. I can also go ahead and bring you juice and jello for when you are feeling up to it."

"That sounds great. Thanks."

While she is saying this she manages to take notes in my chart, change my IV, and change my bandage. _Damn she's quick._

"I will be right back. Try not to move around too much."

I have to ask her this now, before she leaves the room. She's the only one who could have the answer for me.

"Angela?"

"Yes, Mr Cullen?"

"What about Bella?"

"Let me go get your meds and juice, and I will see what I can find out. Unfortunately, even if I _can _get details, I can only share them with her next of kin. The only thing I will be able to divulge is whether or not she is still in surgery."

"Thank you."

Angela leaves the room and suddenly there is chaos. Everyone is trying to talk at once and walking over and hugging me. I know they are happy I am okay, and I'm not trying to be an ass, but shit, I just want to know if Bella is going to be alright. There was so much blood when that bitch shot her. I am so angry, I am shaking. That fucking monitor is beeping again, and I know that I need to calm down for it to shut up. I start thinking of all the ways that I can fuck her world up for what she has done to us. For some reason, this actually calms me down. I almost have a sense of peace knowing that she will pay.

Jasper's phone starts ringing, and for some reason it irritates the hell out of me. The shrill sound of it alone hurts my head even more. He apologizes and takes the call outside. I am looking at everyone, with their red puffy eyes, when Angela walks back in. She places items on a tray and wheels it over next to the bed. On it is a bottle of juice, a straw, several small containers of jello, and a spoon.

"I wasn't sure which flavor Jello you would like so I brought you a variety. I also called up to the OR and let Dr. Cullen know that you were awake, and to see if there was anything to report about Bella."

The whole room went silent, even the television was muted. All eyes were on Angela waiting for news that we all long to hear.

"The only thing that I can tell you right now is that they are almost done with the surgery. After they are done and clean up, I am sure that Dr. Cullen will want to see you and will be more than happy to tell you what he can about her condition. I am sorry, I wish that I knew more."

"Thank you, Angela. I appreciate it, all of it."

My heart sunk and as I looked around the room I could see the disappointment I feel reflecting in everyone's faces.

"No problem, Mr Cullen. I am going to give you some pain meds through your IV. You are starting to look a bit uncomfortable and to be honest, taking a pill on an empty stomach is a horrible idea."

I look over as she hols what appears to be a syringe and pushes it though a port type of thing in my IV.

"I give it maybe twenty minutes before you start feeling tired. You are going to want to get some rest though to give your body time to heal. Hopefully your doctor will make it in here before that. If not, then she will talk to you when you wake up again. If you need anything just press the nurse button on the remote and I will be right in."

I use the remote to move my bed into a sitting position and extract my hands from my mother and sister so I can attempt to drink my juice.

Jasper walks in the room, looking extra tired and stressed.

"You alright, babe?" Alice asks him.

"Just worried about B. I feel better knowing Edward's awake though. That was Jake that called. He got the first flight he could, so him and Sam will be here tomorrow."

"Thanks for calling them. Wish they could've come down for a better reason," I tell him.

"True."

My room is starting to feel like Grand Central Station as the door opens yet again.

"I'm not supposed to say anything, but I just had to come and give you some good news. I just got word that Bella is out of surgery, and don't quote me on this, but I think it is a safe assumption that things went alright. I don't know if there was any complications, but the docs seem to think she is going to be moved here soon," Angela announces with a huge grin on her face. "I have to get back out there and make sure we have everything all set in a room for her, I just wanted to let you know."

"Thank God! Thank you so much Angela!"

I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I am not sure anything could have made me happier considering the circumstances.

We all sigh in relief at the news. If it wouldn't hurt so bad, I would actually hug Angela – which is saying a lot because I am _not _a hugger.

I wish we had more information, but I am so happy that Angela told us what she did. You can not only see the relief in everyone's faces, but the feeling is almost palpable in the air. The medication is starting to make me drowsy and I have a feeling that no matter how hard I try to stay awake, I am going to pass the hell out soon.

I decide the Jello is starting to sound better and better, so I pick it up and try to eat it. It is at this point that I notice two things. First, _I am fucking starving_, and second, it is damn near impossible to open the stupid ass cup thing with one hand. I feel like such a damn invalid when my mom has to open it for me. At least she opens up the next one as well so we don't have to go through this again in a few minutes.

I am about half way through my first Jello cup when the door opens once again. This time it isn't Angela that walks through, it's a different brunette. This one is taller and is wearing a lab coat.

"Hello there, Mr. Cullen. It is good to see you awake. I am Dr Denali, and I was one of the doctors that operated on you earlier." She stuck her hand out and shook mine. "I wanted to come in and introduce myself and let you know what kind of recovery we have in store for you."

I hear what she is saying, but I am not sure I am comprehending it all. I am having a hard time concentrating on what she is saying, and find myself grateful for my mother being in here so she can remind me later.

"We are going to keep you up here in recovery until either tomorrow or the next day, depending on how you're healing. After that, well we will play it by ear. The bullet did a pretty good job of tearing up the muscles in your shoulder. We were able to remove it and repair the damaged tissue as much as possible. Basically it is now up to your body to repair itself now."

"Is there some kind of time frame? How long does it usually take to recover from something like this?" my mother asks.

"You should be warned that it may be a lengthy recovery time, and it will take quite a while until you have full range of motion in your arm. We need to give your body some time to recover not only from the shooting, but from the surgery as well. So, in a couple of weeks we will get you started on some physical therapy. This will help you to regain muscle control and coordination in your arm and get you back in top condition. Tomorrow we will try and give you some solid foods. Unfortunately they will be pretty bland, but we need to make sure that you can handle foods. If all goes well from there, we can look at removing your IV and we can start giving you pills for your medication. Do you have any questions for me?"

"No. Not that I can think of at the moment."

The doctor looks down at the chart in her and and quickly writes something down.

"Alright, if you need anything or have any questions, just page the nurse's station. I understand that Angela gave you some medicine not too long ago. I know you are wanting to spend time with everyone, but your body needs rest so that it can heal. I suggest embracing sleep now."

She turns toward the others in the room.

" I suggest you go home, get some sleep, eat something decent and come back. I cannot imagine how exhausted you all must be right now. If there is nothing else, I will be by tomorrow to check on you."

She turns and gives my family a pointed look before turning towards the door. She puts her hand in her pocket and turns to me as she pulls something out.

"One last thing; these had to be removed for surgery, but I thought you may want them back." She puts a little plastic baggie on the table next to the bed which contains my missing hoops and barbells.

"Thank you, Doctor Denali."

"All right everyone, you heard the doc. Let's get out of here and let E get some rest. We can come back in a couple hours to drive him crazy some more."

I have to smile. My brother has such a way with words. Everyone makes their way over to me and pats my good arm, the girls all kiss my cheek, and they all promise to be back soon. As soon as they are out the door, I want to scream. I want to scream at the raw deal we have been handed. I want to scream at the fact that I never noticed anything wrong at the house. Most of all I want to scream because the one person I need to see, the one person who makes everything all better is just coming out of surgery. I have no idea what kind of shape she is going to be in, or how long it will be before I can see her.

I lie there thinking about my Bella until sleep finally takes over.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, sometimes life just sucks. The next chapter should be up much sooner. Huge ass hugs for Cullenlvr83 and Maxipoo 1024. There would be no chapter with out you guys, you rock!**

**Here's the usual disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Twilight, or the characters. I also do not own _Wicked Game _or Stone Sour, but damn if I could borrow Corey Taylor just for a little bit...**

**The world was on fire and no one could save me but you**

**Strange what desire would make foolish people do**

**I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you**

**I'd never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you**

**No I don't want to fall in love**

**No I don't want to fall in love**

**with you **

**with you**

**What a wicked game you played to make me feel this way**

**What a wicked thing to do to let me dream of you**

**What a wicked thing to say that you never felt this way**

**What a wicked thing to do to make me dream of you**

**Wicked Game as sang by Stone Sour**

**Bella's POV**

I was staring at the most beautiful, haunting green eyes I had ever seen. They practically hypnotized me, and I was finding myself unable to avert my attention. It took Alice bouncing up and down, as she introduced us, to pull me out of the spell this man apparently cast on me. I smiled and I _think _I said "Hi," to whom I came to learn were Edward and Jasper. I looked and appreciated his devastatingly handsome face. He had the oddest almost coppery color hair, thick dark eyebrows, a slightly crooked nose, and perfect full lips. Those were not what attracted me to this man the most, though.

What really put a smile on my face was the steel: the barbells in his eyebrow, the rings in his plump bottom lip, the ball that I just barely saw peek out from in between those lips when he licked them. Either Alice was just pure evil for allowing me only a week with this man or she had something up her sleeve. Just looking at this man caused strange and wonderful things happen to my body. I never used to be one to believe in the whole butterflies in the stomach thing, well, until then anyway. The ones that took up residence in my stomach weren't just fluttering, they were having a party in there.

"C'mon, beautiful people. If I don't get these tickets, I am going to seriously kick someones ass," Alice told us as she gave the "_I mean business" _look.

"Bella, you don't mind sitting in the back with Edward while I play tour guide with Jasper do you?" Alice asks and actually winks at me. _What the hell __was__ the wink for?_

"Uh, sure. I don't care."

Well, shit. I wasn't sure I could even form a coherent sentence around him. All of us jumped in the car and were off to the TD Waterhouse where the tickets were being sold. I tried to think of something to say, but nothing sounded right in my head. I concentrated so hard on not letting this guy think I was a total flake, I didn't even realize that I was chewing my bottom lip. I kept shooting him sideways glances and noticed he was looking at me as well.

I was a grown ass woman and that should not effect me the way that it did, but damn I couldn't help it. I started to giggle out loud when I wonder if Alice will let me keep him. At this point he was looking at me like I am a complete nut job.

"Sorry, I just thought of something funny," I told him. I could feel the heat coming up my face as I started to blush.

"Something you wanna share with the rest of the class?" he asked. Damn, that was one hot voice.

"Nope," I responded with a little grin.

I reached down into my bag and grabbed a blow-pop, offering him one as well.

"Sure, why the hell not. What flavors you got?"

I showed him what his options were and hand him the strawberry one he chose.

"So do you always carry blow-pops in your bag or is this a special occasion?" he asked, looking quite curious.

"Well, not that meeting the infamous Edward Cullen isn't a special occasion, but your sister freaked me the hell out with all of her 'smoking is going to infect your piercings' speeches, so it was lose the piercings or the nicotine. You can see which one won, hence the blow-pop substitute," I explained with a smile.

The rest of the car ride was filled with mindless chit chat and friendly banter back and forth. After we arrived at our destination and waited for-freaking-ever, we finally left with 4 tickets in hand. I had been waiting for this day for a while now, and now I only had a few weeks until I could hear some of the best rock bands of our generation. I was so damn excited that I almost made a complete ass of myself and went all fangirl on the way back to the car. I took a few deep breaths as we made our way back home.

As soon as we got home, I ran up the stairs to put on a pair of sweatpants and tank top and threw my hair in a messy bun. I made my way down the stairs when I heard whispering. I couldn't quite make out what was being said, and I was just too damn hungry to eavesdrop, so I called out Alice instead.

"Hey, Al, what are we doing about dinner?" I yelled out as I grabbed a coffee mug and jumped up onto the counter next to the coffee pot.

"Eh, guys do you care if we just order pizza?"

After I heard what sounded like, "Sure," and "Sounds good," come out from the other room, I raised my eyebrow at Alice as she entered the kitchen.

"I don't know. Don't ask. They're in some weird half whisper half yell conversation."

"Alrighty then, you order the pizza, and I am going to pick a movie."

Ten minutes later, I still had not picked out a damn movie. I heard the front door close and felt someone come stand behind me. _Oh, he smells so good. _There was only one person it could be, and I peeked over my shoulder and grinned at him.

"Jazz went to go run an errand with Alice real quick. Need help picking out a movie?" he asked while tilting his head toward our vast selection.

"Sure, thanks. I wasn't sure what you guys would like, and I've seen them all a million times, so..." I left the rest of my sentence to linger in the air.

"Ah, you have my favorite here, do you mind?" he asked, holding up the cover to one of my favorites as well.

"_That _is one of your favorites?"

He lifts up his sleeve that portrays characters from the movie on his skin.

"It's beautiful," I mumbled.

On his bicep was a fantastic tattoo of all the characters from _Nightmare Before Christmas _with Jack and Sally front and center. The coloring and shading were perfect. I stood admiring his art until he moved away to put the DVD in. I turned around, positive I was blushing, and prayed that I wasn't drooling as well. This man was going to be my undoing.

Alice and Jasper returned just after the pizzas arrived. We ate while we watched the movie and joked around with each other. They wouldn't say where they disappeared to, but I know Alice can't keep a secret to save her life, so I knew it would come out eventually. We had almost made it through _Nightmare _when Alice said she had some work she needed to get done and Jasper said he was turning in for the night. As tired as I was, I had no desire to go to bed just yet. I glanced over at Edward, and he didn't seem much in a hurry either. The silence was a little awkward, so I decided to ask him about his ink.

"So, who did your work?" I asked nodding toward his arm.

"Jasper did most of it, actually. What about yours?"

"I'm friends with a shop owner not too far from here. He's pretty much done all of mine. I didn't know Jasper knew how to tat."

"Um, we both do. I've done just about all of his work as well."

We stayed up all night long, talking about everything and nothing. I couldn't get over how much we had in common. The more I learned about him, the more I wanted to know. I knew I needed sleep because I had classes and work tomorrow, not to mention a rehearsal for _Yab Yum's _annual Halloween show. I just couldn't get myself to walk upstairs. There was nothing that I wanted more than to stay here and get to know this amazing man better.

We didn't finally decided to try to take a "power nap" around three-thirty in the morning. I lay in bed, smiling, thinking of all the things I learned tonight. Edward apparently has more tattoos and piercings then one would believe but then again, so do I. What surprised me the most is I was dying to find out just what they were and where they are. He refused to budge on that one, and unfortunately my curiosity was killing me. I learned how he moved to New York to study art and train with some of the best tattoo artist this country has to offer. In one of the few moments when the conversation would take on a more serious note, he told me how much he missed his family and was thinking about moving closer. When I asked him what was holding him back, he explained he was worried about leaving his shop high and dry and worried about what Jasper would do since they are roommates. I have to admit, the thought of him moving closer made my heart flutter and my body tingle.

I smiled into my pillow thinking of Edward's voice, his ink, and his steel. Most of all, I wondered what was going to happen in six days when he had to go back to New York. I was shocked at how sad and disappointed I felt about him leaving already after only knowing him for twelve hours. I decided right then and there that I would take things moment to moment. If I kept thinking about what was six days away, I wouldn't enjoy the time I did have.

**Hmmmm... I wonder who will we hear from next. Click the little review button, you know you want to :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Unfortunately, I still don't own any of it. Extra special thanks to Cullenlvr83, Maxipoo1024, and Miss Winkles. You guys kick some serious ass!**

**Chapter 5**

**I'm holding on to white balloons**

**up against a sky of doom**

**Tell me you see them**

**'Cause what's inside of me is invisible to most**

**even in clear view**

**I'm sending out a signal to the possibility of you**

**'Cause right at this moment**

**I know you're connected to a part of me that I don't even know myself**

White Balloons by Sick Puppies

**EPOV**

A stinging sensation in my arm stirred me from my deep sleep. I opened my eyes and saw a nurse to my side drawing my blood. _What the hell?_

"Oh, good, you're up. I'm almost done here," said the evil nurse.

"That couldn't wait until I was awake first?"

"Nope, sorry, the doctor wanted some tests run on you ASAP and since my shift is over in ten minutes, here I am."

"Where's Angela?"

"She'll be here shortly. Do you need anything before I go?"

"No. I don't think so." _Jesus, would she just leave so I __could go__ back to sleep_

I started to doze off again when there was a knock on the door. I glanced over to see my mother quietly walking through the door. She turned to look at me, smiled, and then quickly closed the door.

"What was that about? Everything okay out there?" I asked her.

"Oh. Yes, dear. Everything is fine. How are you feeling this morning?" she asked as she took a seat in the the chair next to the bed.

"I'd still be sleeping if that idiot nurse wasn't sticking a needle in my arm. Any word on B?" I was really worried about her, and it had been driving me insane not to be able to see her.

"She's down on this floor in recovery, but it's still the waiting game, I'm afraid."

"I need to go and see her, Mom." I tried my damnedest to swing my legs to the side of the bed, wasn't it just my luck that my body would not cooperate. The more I tried to get up, the more tired my body had become.

"I know you do. Unfortunately, they will only let family and next of kin in there with her. You're father is seeing if he can pull some strings so you can go in there. You need to remember, though, Edward, that even if you can see her, you need to spend time in here healing as well."

"Mom, listen..."

"No, Edward, _you _listen. She is in much worse condition then you are in, and she is going to need for you to be strong and healthy for her. Do you honestly think she won't be angry with you for not taking care of yourself?"

I had to laugh a little as a vision of Bella telling me off and kicking my ass popped into my head.

"You're right. I won't over do it. So what's been going on in the world outside these four walls?"

"Not too much. We all spend a lot of time in the waiting room drinking horrible coffee," she said with a little grin."There is something I need to talk to you about, though."

"Uh okay. Go for it." I reached for the remote and raised my bed to a more sitting position.

"The police have been up here several times. We've all given them statements, but they really need one from you and Bella. Since Bella is unable to give hers, they are insistent in needing yours to be able to further their investigation on what happened. Honey, I know you are probably not up for this, but you need to talk to them as soon as possible."

"Are they here now?" She grasped my hand and nodded.

"Alright, I'll go ahead and do my statement now I guess. Since I can't see Bella yet, there really isn't much else for me to do."

"I'll send them in. Do you want one of us to stay with you while you talk to them?"

"Thanks, but no."

"Okay, I send them in and go see if I can find you something edible for breakfast."

She kissed the top of my head and squeezed my hand before leaving the room.

A few minutes later, two officers walked into the room. I was pretty sure they introduced themselves to me, but I'd be damned if I could remember what their names were. They had a _no bullshit _vibe about them. They explained that with the way the circumstances were and the extent of my injuries, they were going to tape record the interview instead of having me write a statement, which for all intense and purposes was impossible.

They asked me everything from where we were at before we arrived home to the reasons why we were at the convention and the time frame in which we came home to when the incident occurred. I felt like I had just gone through this with my family. I tried to be as informative as I could, but damn if things weren't blurry from all the medication.

Of course, when we got to the part where I saw the person on the bed, I couldn't, for the life of me, make out the face. It was a faceless person over by my bed. The harder I tried to remember, the more my head started to hurt and the more anxious I got. They moved on and asked if either Bella or myself had any enemies or knew of anyone who would want to wish us any harm – there wasn't anyone. Bella was one of the nicest people in the world, and I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to hurt her. My head started to clear slowly as more and more pain set in. Unfortunately, so did my anger and anxiety over not being with Bella, and that was when I remembered a hopefully important detail.

"Wait a second. I think I remember something about the person who shot us. It was a woman. I remember hearing her say something just before she turned the gun on me," I told them. I tried to recall what was said or what she looked like, but all I could remember was her voice. I explained this to them, and they handed me their cards with their contact information, so when I remembered, I could call them right away.

The officers explained that they were going to the apartment to try to find some more evidence, and they would be in touch if and when they learned anything new. By the time they left, I was in a ridiculous amount of pain.

The revolving door, which my hospital room had become, opened yet again. This time it was my nurse Angela. Thank God!

"How are you feeling, Mr. Cullen?"

"Not at my best, Angela, and please call me Edward."

"Let me check and see when we can get you some pain killers again," she said as she flipped open my chart. The fact that she furrowed her brow was not at all comforting to me. "Did Jessica not give you any medication while she was here?"

"Who's Jessica?"

"Blonde nurse, usually smacking bubblegum that you secretly hope she chokes on?"

"Oh, the one who woke me up by stabbing a needle into my arm? No, I don't remember her giving me anything."

"Alright. Well, I am going to go get your medication. It looks like you family has brought you some food, so I suggest you eat something and then take the meds. It will be by mouth this time instead of through your IV, so you'll need to take it with food or I can promise you will regret it," she explained just before she smiled and walked out the room.

My parents finally came in the room with something that smelled too fucking good. My mother walked over to the counter and started doing something or another.

"Hey, son. How are you feeling?" my father asked.

"Like ass to be completely honest. How's Bella?"

"There hasn't been much change in her. We're still waiting for her body to heal enough for her to wake up. I was able to pull some strings, and you will be allowed to see her for one hour a day. The condition is that you come right back to your room afterwords and you are a model patient – no problems when your time is up for the day."

I couldn't contain the smile that broke out onto my face. I was _finally _going to get to see Bella. My mother handed me a bowl of her special g_et well soup._She used to always make this when one of us got sick. Everyone ended up trickling in for a few minutes while I ate my soup, and Angela brought me my medicine. She left soon after, saying she would return shortly. She made me wait for at least thirty minutes to make sure my stomach could handle the pill, and I didn't have an adverse reaction to it, before bringing me a wheelchair. _A wheelchair? What the hell?_

"Uh, Angela? What's up with the wheelchair?"

"Sorry, Edward. It's hospital policy that you use it while you are here."

"But there is nothing wrong with my legs."

"I know, sorry. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Okay, then. Guess I'm taking a ride in a wheelchair."

Emmett and Dad helped me get up and get into the wheelchair. Dad pushed me towards Bella's room. I couldn't help the nervousness that I was feeling with finally being able to see her. I hadn't been able to lay eyes on her since that God awful night, and I still wasn't sure what type of condition she was in. I had no idea what to expect when we finally reach her room. Dad finally slowed to a stop in front of a closed door and knocked. Jasper came out of the room looking teary eyed.

"Hey, man, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Seen better days. How bout you?

"Hanging in there or trying to anyway. They finally letting you see her?"

"Yeah and it's about damn time, too. It's been too long. Feels like a fucking eternity."

"I'm getting ready to go pick up Jake and Sam from the airport, but listen, I want you to be prepared when you walk in there."

"O-kay?" The more he talked the more nervous I became.

"She's still her, but she looks like hell. She's got all these machines and tubes..." His voiced trailed off.

"Hey, she'll be okay, Jazz. She has to be."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I've got to go. I'll come by and see you later."

He walked away, and my father opened the door to Bella's room. "Ready, son?"

I took a deep breath. "Ready."

Nothing in a million years would have readied me for what I saw the moment I entered the room. My heart stopped beating. Suddenly, my eyes burned and got blurry. Tears poured down my face at the sight of the love of my life lying in that bed.

**Jasper's POV**

I felt completely defeated as I left the hospital. Never in my entire life have I felt so helpless. Two of my best friends almost died two days ago, and there isn't anything any of us can do to help. Although I felt really bad for not being able to spend more time with Edward. The thing was, Edward had a bunch of family that could come and see him. Technically, I was the only one that could see Bella. The only reason for that was a while ago she was joking around and listed me as her next of kin and emergency contact person. If she didn't wake up soon, I thought I would surely go crazy.

I made my way through the most aggravating traffic on way to the airport to pick up Jake and Sam. I always hated coming to OIA. They had the most ridiculous rules ever since September eleventh. Basically, if whomever you were picking up was not waiting outside of baggage claim at the curb, you had to drive around in a big circle until they were. They had several police out there, too, just in case someone were to actually think that they could stop and wait for someone. After my third time driving through the circle, I saw them walking out of the doors carrying their luggage. I pulled to the curb, popped the trunk, and got out to greet them.

"Hey guys." My voice made my exhaustion known.

They both said hello and threw their bags in the back of the car.

"You alright, man? You look like shit," Jake said.

"Eh. I can't remember the last time that I slept to be honest. I've spent most of my time at the hospital. At some point, I need to get home and take a shower and figure out what to do about the shop," I explained.

Edward, Emmett, and I had owned the shop for a while and were pretty well established in the community, but we had never been shut down indefinitely, and I knew we had appointments for some regulars coming up.

"We'll figure it out, Jazz. Don't worry about it."

"So how long are you guys down for?"

"Until we outstay our welcome, or sleeping beauty wakes the hell up. I'm not going anywhere till I know she's alright."

"Ali wants you guys to stay with us while your in town. You guys cool with that?"

"Hell yeah. Thanks. How's she holding up?" Sam asked.

"It's hard. It's been hard on all of us, you know? Waiting and bouncing back and forth between Edward and Bella's rooms. I'm not sure any of us have slept or eaten much. I think that Esme is the only one who has actually gone home for any real amount of time, and even then, I think Carlisle pretty much kicked her out of the hospital for a while."

"Who's with our girl now?"

"Edward is finally getting to see her. He must have been going out of his damn mind. I know I would be if it was Ali in that bed and I couldn't see her."

There was a long stretch of silence while Sam and Jake tried to absorb everything.

"Hey, man, can you bring us by your place so we can drop out shit off and get washed up or whatever before we go to the hospital?" Jake asked breaking the silence. His soft words had me taken aback since was usually as boisterous as Emmett.

"Yeah. No problem."

The rest of the drive was quiet with the exception of the radio playing. The tension was so thick in the car, I was sure they were just as nervous and anxious for B to wake up as I was. When we got to the house, I showed the guys the room that they would be staying in and went to make some coffee. I figured since I was going to be here for a while, I would take a quick shower.

I sat on at the kitchen bar, coffee in one hand and our shop appointment book in the other. I let out a long breath as I tried to figure out what to do about _Trinity._ We never had the shop closed for more then a day, and we had quite a few appointments coming up. If I was going to be honest, with everything that had happened in the past few days, this was the first time I had the chance to think about the shop. It was all of our livelihood and as much as I didn't want to bring it up, we were going to have to open the doors soon. I was lost in thought about how we were going to accomplish this when all we wanted to do was help Edward and wait for Bella wake up. I heard the bar stools around me scrape against the floor.

"What's up, Jazz?" Sam asked.

"Eh, just looking at our appointments coming up. I'm hoping I can reschedule them, at least for a few days, but it's going to take a while to get back on track. We've got some clients with major work to get done, and Edward isn't going to be able to work for a while, so we're a man down."

"Everything will work out. I'm sure we can figure something out. I kinda have the feeling Edward and Bella would kick everyone's ass if we let the shop go. You know?"

"True. Rose was training Ali to pierce. Maybe if she's comfortable enough, they can take shifts or something if they don't mind."

"If you want, we can all take shifts. You know what our work is like. If you want, we can help out at the shop when we're not at the hospital."

Finally, it felt like some weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It felt pretty damn good to be doing something proactive. I still wanted to be at the hospital, but honestly, I was about to go out of my fucking mind. Just sitting there watching B, waiting for some sign of _somethin__g, _was almost too much. Maybe putting a few hours in at the shop would help.

"That would be fucking awesome, man. I'd appreciate that. I'll let Em know when we get to the hospital, and we can work out the details tonight. Thanks guys."

Jake patted me on the back and filled up three travel mugs with coffee. I guess it was time to go.

We hopped into the car again— silence. Normally, I liked the quiet but lately, being inside my own head, was too much. I turned the radio on and heard the opening verse of a _Sick Puppies _song.

"You have got to be kidding me," I said to no one in particular.

"Here, man, play this." Sam held out a cd to me. I shrugged my shoulders and put it in the cd player. Once the music started, all I could do was look at him like he was crazy._ I mean c'mon. Who listens to this shit anymore?_

"He, bro, we all needed a good laugh. Besides, Bell loved this shit, and we're in Florida, so its fitting."

We laughed as the car filled with the _Arrogant Worms._

"_Billy and his family went on a holiday,_

_They went down to Florida to laugh and dance and play_

_Billy went for a swim, he didn't see the harm_

_but when he came back out again he was short an arm_

_cause Rippy the gator went chomp, chomp, chomp_

_Rippy the gator went chomp, chomp, chomp,_

_Passing the time by ending children's lives_

_down in the bottom of the swamp, swamp, swamp"_

By the time the song was over and the _Violent Femmes _came on, we were in much better spirits. It was amazing how music has the power to completely turn your mood around. It was not that I wasn't still scared as hell and worried, but I felt just a little bit better. Laughing made a difference, lifted my spirits up, even just slightly.

I pulled up to the hospital, and we went to Bella and Edward's floor. I didn't see anyone around, so I took the guys right to Bella's room. Carlisle walked over and greeted us and let us know he was going to go in and get Edward in just a few more minutes to bring him to his own room. He said everyone was down in the cafeteria. Jake and Sam wanted to wait so they could see Bella as soon as possible and thankfully, Carlisle was able to work some magic and get them in for a little while.

I went back downstairs to the cafeteria and talked to Em about the guys' offer. Everyone seemed excited and sad at the same time. Going back to work would be something productive we could do, and we could take shifts so there would always be at least one person at the hospital. Esme grabbed a napkin and immediately started making a tentative schedule. She even included herself on there, when I gave her a questioning look she just replied, "I need to feel useful too," in a sad somber voice.

We decided that we would all spend the night at Ali's and my house to go over all the details. We made our plans and made our way back up the the recovery floor to wait for some news. Again.

**A/N 2: I was nominated for The Hidden Star Awards! Yay! Although I didn't win, it was amazing to see me in the running for it. Go look up their website and check out some truly amazing stories! Don't forget to click the button and tell me your thoughts.. Love it? Hate it? Fav. POV?**


End file.
